


Stargazer

by Pussyparasite



Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: Adam Raki Is Gay, Adam Raki Loves Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Adorable Adam Raki, Alternate Universe - High School, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Elizabeth Buchwald Is The Villain Of This Story, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Jealous Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Literally No One Likes Her, M/M, Nigel (Charlie Countryman) Has A Sexuality Crisis, Nigel (Charlie Countryman) Loves Adam Raki, Possessive Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Protective Harlan Keyes, Protective Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Recreational Drug Use, References to Drugs, Sexual Content, Smitten Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Smut, meltdowns, toxic friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:34:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27520840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pussyparasite/pseuds/Pussyparasite
Summary: Nigel, Darko, and Gabi have been expelled from three high schools and this is their last chance to graduate.Of course, Nigel isn't motivated to even make it a week, even with Mr. Keyes's words of encouragement.But it all changes on a midnight walk in the park after his tour of the school when he meets a boy following a family of raccoons with a camera.
Relationships: Charlie Countryman/Gabi Ibanescu, Gabi Ibanescu/Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki, but it doesn't last don't worry
Comments: 10
Kudos: 91





	1. The Curious Case of Adam Raki

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited about writing this series, I hope you guys like this!
> 
> I've always been an avid fan of Spacedogs, so I figured I would finally a fic about these two! 
> 
> I hope you guys like the ideas I have for future chapters!

“This is so fucking stupid,”

Nigel hung his head against the headrest of the wooden chair he was sitting in, his body slumped on the chair. His brain screamed for him to take a smoke break but couldn’t as he was in the principal's office and was supposed to be given a tour of the place; whenever it was going to happen. He lets out a tired huff as his eyes scan the room. It was typical for a principal's office, had the same wooden desk, same office chair, same rewards locked in a glass cabinet behind the chair, nothing different from the others. 

“Tell that to your mom,” Darko retorted, Nigel groaned at the thought of confronting his mother; he wouldn’t survive that’s for sure. Nigel looks over to the clock behind him, his lips curl into a deeper frown. 

“Where the fuck is this guy? Wasn’t he supposed to be here an hour ago?” Nigel snarled, whipping his head over to Darko. Darko laughed at Nigel’s child-like behavior, he almost forgot that they were to graduate 12th grade; not to start middle school again. It wasn’t anything new, Nigel has always been like this; eager, impatient, aggressive, and ready to pick a fight with anyone. It was a blessing and a curse.

“It’s only been five minutes, calm down,” Nigel rolls his eyes and shoots up from his chair. He was already pissed because of his lecture from his mother on the car ride here via phone call. 

_“Nigel, please at least give this place a chance,”_

He could still hear her soft voice emitting from his phone. A pinch of guilt forms in his stomach. 

The two hear the door open and peer over to see Gabi walking through the doors, she originally needed to go to the bathroom. Nigel’s frown instantly turns into a grin as he sees her, she smiles back and walks over to him. Darko suppressed a groan rumbling in his throat, as he knew where this was going. 

“Missed you, baby,” Gabi purrs, bringing her hips down Nigel’s lap, Nigel grins and wraps his hand around the back of her neck and brings her down for a kiss. Darko averted his eyes away from the busy couple, fuck he hated being the third wheel, especially with Nigel and Gabi since they can’t seem to keep it in their pants. With company or not. He thought of telling them to stop or else the principal would promptly throw them out before they even got the chance to get into a class, but decided against it as Nigel would probably just flip him off. Either way, Darko couldn’t be blamed for the couple's horniness. 

Thankfully, Gabi moves away from Nigel and walks back to her original seat beside Darko.

“So, when’s this guy coming-”

“Hello, hello, sorry about being late. I had to deal with a student,”

A man, perhaps in his middle ages, stormed into the office. He seemed disgruntled like he had been in a tussle with a lion. His suit looked like someone had tried to tear it off and his cheek had a mark on it like someone scratched their nail over it. The man walked to his desk and sat down, nervously moving his hand against his bald head. Seemed like the man needed more of a smoke break than Nigel did. The men jerked open the drawer and grabbed a couple of files from it and scattered them on the desk, he looked up to the three students staring at him. He clears his throat,

“Yes, you must be the transfer students?” Darko and Gabi nod while Nigel just sits and stares at the man. 

The man was African American, slightly chubby, and wearing a brown suit with a bright red tie. His eyes were large and attentive to his surroundings and certainly to Nigel. 

“Are you a transfer student…” the man grabs one of the files and opens it, he looks back to Nigel, “Nigel Ibanescu?” he finishes his question. Nigel simply grunts in response and the man huffs a laugh. “I’m Harlan Keyes, the principle of East South High School. But please call me Mr.Keyes,” the three say nothing, as expected Mr.Keyes thought. He looks over the scattered files on his desk and grabs one. “Nigel Ibanescu, 19, known for getting into fights, drug dealing, and general aggressiveness towards students and teachers. Am I right?” Nigel returns his question with a glare. Harlan puffs out a chuckle and moves onto the next student, “Darko, 18, drug dealing, hacking? That’s new-and fights.” He shifts his eyes between the two and moves on to the literally red-haired girl. “And finally Gabi Banyai, 17, drug dealing, and stealing-no fighting?” Gabi shrugs.

“I can defend myself when I need to,” she answers. 

“That’s good.” Harlan stacks the files together again and places them back into the drawer. “Either way fighting is not allowed on school grounds, nor is drug dealings but I feel I shouldn't have to say that,” Gabi snorts at the comment. “And I shouldn’t have to say that this is possibly, if not your last chance to finish high school and graduate,” Gabi’s grin falls into a frown at the words of Mr.Keyes, “I know you all have been expelled from three different schools, all seemingly at the same time.” He leans forward on his desk and entwines his fingers, “I am willing to give a chance, in fact, I’m willing to give you all three chances,” he moves one of his hands and expands three fingers to demonstrate. “If you waste these chances, you’ll be expelled,” he pauses to look over to Nigel, who is staring off into space or trying to act like he is. “Am I understood?” Mr.Keyes hears Darko and Gabi mutter a ‘yes’ but his attention is focused on Nigel. 

Nigel returns his stare and dips his head to a nod, Mr. Keyes smiles and clasps his hands together. “Wonderful, now that we have that out of the way,” he stands up from his chair causing the three students to do the same. “A student should be arriving soon to give you fellows a tour of the place,” he lifts his arm to point to the door. The three walk towards the door and exits, they turn to look at Mr.Keyes once again“I hope I will be seeing you three throughout the year,” he says with a soft smile as he closes the door. The three remain silent for a moment. 

  
  


“I like him,” Gabi states, walking away from the door, the boys do the same. They went over to a row of seats against a wall. 

“You fucking like him, darling?” Nigel asks in pure confusion. Gabi shrugs her shoulders, she resumes her position on Nigel’s lap. 

“He certainly stands up to your bullshit,” Darko adds. Gabi giggles and Nigel rolls his eyes,

“Yeah, whatever. I wonder who gave that scratch, seemed like they got ‘em good,” Nigel snickers, and the others grin. 

“Maybe you could have them a run for their money,” Gabi leans down and kisses Nigel on the cheek. Nigel chuckles, perhaps he could. 

But before the three could continue with their conversation, a moderately tall boy is running towards them. “Um, I’m sorry but are you guys the new transfer students?” he asks as he reaches the group. Nigel looks the boy up and down. The boy had dark curly hair, light pale skin, and had somewhat of a beard. He wore a light gray hoodie that seemed a size too large for him while wearing black pants and white tennis shoes that had mud on them. 

All in all, boring. 

“Yes, we are,” Gabi answers, looking to the curly-haired boy, she smiles. Nigel’s lip twitches. 

“Oh good! I’m Charlie, Charlie Countryman,” Charlie nods. “Mr. Keyes told me I’m the one who’s supposed to be giving you all a tour,” he explains. Gabi slides off of Nigel’s lap and walks to Charlie. 

“Wonderful,” Gabi’s eyes linger on Carlie for a bit longer than Nigel would like. He instantly gets up and places a hand on her back, not forceful but sending a message to Charlie. Darko looks over to Nigel, classic Nigel, and his possessiveness. 

Nigel and Gabi had been together for two years. They had met during tenth grade and it wasn’t long before the two started dating. 

It stunned Darko at first, knowing that Nigel had always said that he wasn’t built for the dating life nor was he the type to settle down with someone. Then Gabi Banyai came along and seemed to change him in an instant, it impressed Darko that the two had been together for this long. Although he couldn’t say he was entirely trustworthy of Gabi, still isn’t. Gabi is known for dating multiple men and cheating on them, she is also known for catfishing older men to get a quick buck or two to avoid work. Not to mention the problem she has with-

“Darko! Jesus, have you gone death?” Darko looks up to see Nigel and the others already a couple of feet away from him, he blinks and finally catches up.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m comin,” 

  
  


Nigel and Darko remain behind on the tour as Nigel was too busy with monitoring Charlie and his actions towards Gabi. 

Of course, this wasn’t anything new from Gabi, her natural beauty drew in many men. Despite her reputation, many men came to her feet with cash usually in hand. 

And of course, Nigel is aware of this, and it didn't mean he couldn't be jealous or protective from time to time. It was only natural for dating Gabi Banyai, well, at least that’s what Darko thought. 

He isn’t close with Gabi for a reason. 

Either way, he could tell Nigel was getting more agitated the longer Charlie and Gabi were talking. As fingers kept tapping his pocket where his cigarette packet was. He clenches his teeth like he’s trying to contain the words wanting to spill from his mouth, but of course, Nigel knew nothing restraint when it came to speaking. 

“Hey,” the word sounded threatening like he was pointing a gun at Charlie’s head. Charlie and Gabi turn, Charlie didn’t seem to get the malice behind the word. As he simply waited for Nigel’s response.

“Do you know who the big man fought with?” Charlie’s eyebrows burrow at the question. Darko being just as confused as him. 

“Big...man? Wait-do you mean Mr. Keyes?” Nigel rolls his eyes, annoyed. 

“Sure,” he hisses out. 

“Um well, I wouldn’t say ‘fought’. I believe he was accidentally scratched, I think,” Charlie answers, unsure of his own words. 

“Accidently?” Gabi giggles, “What? Did he fight with a cat?” Charlie shakes his head and his foot starts tapping as he tries to remember what he was told. 

“It wasn’t a fight. I believe he was trying to help someone and they accidentally scratched him during the process. I don’t know if I’m completely correct, I wasn’t there to see it, someone else told me.” He explains. 

“Still, how do you accidentally scratch someone? It had to be intentional,” Gabi adds, her eyes examined Charlie's face; pissing Nigel off even more. Charlie looks back to Gabi.

“As I said, I’m not entirely sure-”

“What’s this guy’s name?” Nigel asks, promptly cutting off Gabi’s and Charlie’s potential conversation. 

“Uh, Adam…” Nigel awaits. 

“Adam Raki, I believe,” He answers. 

Darko suddenly feels bad for this Adam Raki person. 

“I don’t know much about him, other than he acts a bit weird. Why? Do you know him?” 

It’s like Charlie could read Darko’s mind. Though Darko could only imagine why Nigel is so fixated on this character is to release his emotions in the form of a fist, perhaps a bloody nose as well. 

Well, it was nice while it lasted. 

Even if they hadn’t been able to finish a week of school. 

“I don’t.” The response is blunt and short, but there is some form of hesitance. Is Nigel wondering why he cares to? 

“Well, he’s not exactly a threat if that’s what you're wondering,” Darko manages to suppress a chuckle, Nigel backing from a fight is just as hilarious as seeing someone get their face smashed in with a pie. Funny and unlikely to happen. 

“Goodie,” is all Nigel says. 

Charlie, assuming the topic of Adam Raki is finished, resumes the school tour with Gabi along his side while Nigel and Darko remain behind. 

  
  
  


Nigel sighs as exhales the smoke into the night sky, fuck it felt good to finally have a cigarette. 

Nigel was currently on a walk in the park, he desperately needed the smoke break after the day’ he’s had. 

The park is mostly empty besides the birds eating the food people left behind and raccoons chasing each other. And besides the lamp post, the moon was mostly doing the job lighting the place; despite being slightly fogged up by the clouds. 

Nigel sits down on the bench and leans on it. 

Fucking Charlie Countryman,

He wasn’t sure why, though it could be blamed on his jealousy and possessiveness, but something about the boy heightened those aspects of him. Nigel takes another long drag from his cigarette and puffs out the smoke. 

Nigel loves Gabi but her endless flirting with men really grinded his gears. It also didn’t help that she seemed to do it on purpose just to anger him. Plus, what was so interesting about Charlie? He didn’t look even remotely interesting, like a salad with no croutons or dressing. 

“Whatever,” he muttered, he really needed to stop thinking about Charlie or less he’s gonna break the armrest of the bench he’s sitting on. Nigel releases his grip and allows his eyes to scan the park. Birds, trees, more benches, flowers, raccoons, and...raccoons being followed by a boy?

From a distance Nigel could tell that the boy was around his age, looking to be on the younger side; 16 or 17 at least. The boy was wearing a light tanned sweater and light blue jeans. He held the camera close to his eye as he carefully followed the family of raccoons.

The boy was a good amount of distance away from the raccoons, probably to not disturb them as the raccoons didn’t seem frightened nor aware of the boy’s presence. The boy was hunched over slightly and continued taking pictures of the animals. Nigel gets up from the bench and walks towards the boy, something about him intrigues him. Maybe it had to due to his cigarette high or his need to stop thinking about-nevermind. 

He slowly walks behind the boy, cigarette in hand. 

“What are you doing?” The question is simple. But as the boy turns around, Nigel is stunned. It’s like he’s been hit with a bat at how young and… gorgeous this boy is. 

Now Nigel isn't gay, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t admit to a man’s beauty. 

But this boy was absolutely stunning. 

His brown wavy hair was neatly combed to the side, his skin was pale and impeccably smooth, his fingers that were wrapped around his camera were long and dainty. His lips were thin yet plump and had a nice faint pink to them, and Jesus, his fucking eyes are blue. And not just plain blue, they were ocean blue. Like if Nigel was to drown in them if he stared for too long, but the idea seemed wonderful to him if he got to stare at this angel for a bit longer. 

An angel?

Yes, that simple question had somehow turned into prayer to God to see an angel. Without Nigel even knowing it, and he still managed to get it answered. 

“Taking pictures of raccoons,” the boy’s voice was surprisingly a tab bit deeper than Nigel would’ve imagined, didn’t bother him though because he still thought he was staring at God’s perfection. 

“Why?”

“Because I like raccoons and I like looking at them,” the answer was cut and dry, his voice monotone like a robot. Like he was answering one of the easiest questions in the world. Before Nigel could continue, the boy interrupts him with more facts. 

The boy’s eyes dropped to Nigel’s feet. “Did you know that raccoons are told apart from their unique hands? It helps because most people are aware of the Procyon raccoons and not other raccoons, probably because they are the most common of the raccoons since people see them around parks, backyards, and rocky mountains. Did you know they native to North America? And they were originally reported back in 19991, isn’t that weird? Raccoons were only discovered in the ’90s.” The boy giggles at the end. The boy's blue eyes were bright and energetic like he’s talking about the wonders of the universe to Nigel. The weirdest part was, Nigel completely followed everything the boy said; the raccoon’s hands, where their native to, and when they were discovered. Nigel’s mouth perks into a grin. 

“Yeah, that’s weird.” He chuckles. The boy giggles even more and Nigel tilts his head. “What’s your name?” he asks, the boy’s giggling stops as his eyes travel further up to Nigel’s knees; still not wanting to look at him. 

The boy purses his lips together, “I...I don’t think I can tell you, you're a stranger.” 

Nigel sighs, it was a smart answer for a smart boy. 

“Well, what if I told my name? Would you be willing to give me yours?” Nigel negotiates, he feels that it’s his life mission to find out who this angel is. Now it’s the boy’s turn to tilt his head.

“Give me yours?” he asks. 

Nigel squints for a second, “Yes, your name.” 

“But, it’s my name. I can’t give you my name.”

Nigel pauses for a moment, even confused until it clicks in his head. He chuckles again.

“Sorry, I meant that if I tell you my name, you could tell me your name,” he explains. The boy’s mouth made the shape of an ‘o’ and hesitated for a moment. He purses his lips as his eyes travel to Nigel’s light chocolate eyes.

“Okay, that seems fair.” 

Nigel grins, “Wonderful,” he extends his hand to the boy. 

“Nigel Ibanescu, a pleasure to meet you,” the boy grabs Nigel's hand and shakes it. 

“Adam Raki, age 17, I go to East South High School and I want to become an astronaut when I am of legal age.”  
  


Adam Raki?

This is Adam Raki?

The Adam Raki that the past Nigel wanted to get in a fight with?

The Adam Raki that scratched Harlan’s face? 

If Nigel wasn’t interested before, he’s now more intrigued than ever. 

“What a fucking coincidence Adam,” he savors when the word ‘Adam’ as it spills from his mouth. “I’m starting my first day tomorrow there,” he mentions. Adam nods. 

“Yes, when you told me your name, I remember my friend Beth and her friends talking about you...there was two other people they were talking about as well,” Adam shuts his eyes. The grasp around his camera tightens as he swarms through his brain for the answer. Nigel notices and answers quickly, wanting to drown in Adam's angel-like baby blue eyes again. 

“Darko and Gabi?” Adam’s eyes flew open to Nigel’s again. Thank god. 

“Yes, though what they were saying wasn’t nice,” Adam’s eyes soured as they dropped back to Nigel’s shoes. “They said you all were liars and aggressive towards others, but I don’t know if I believe that,” Adam looks up to Nigel, “You’ve been nice to me so far,” he tilts his head again. 

Nigel knows he’s acting a bit more polite than he usually is. And yeah it could be said Nigel was simply star-struck by Adam’s attractiveness, and though it was a part of that. It was something else.

It was the way Adam talked about the raccoons that was fascinating. Adam’s face while talking about them was complete wonder and amazement. He’s never seen anyone talk about anything like the way Adam does. It weirdly gave Nigel a sense of energy and attentiveness to Adam’s words. 

Not to mention, his beauty is beyond words. Every time Nigel looks a bit longer at Adam, he notices new features about him. Like his light rosy cheeks due to the cold of night, his small nose, his eyelashes, Nigel could map Adam’s entire body and he’d never be able to finish it with every new discovery he finds. 

“You let me talk about raccoons,”

“Because you like raccoons,”

“Doesn’t mean other people want to hear about it,” he argues. “I know my friend Beth doesn’t,” Adam looks up at the night sky. Nigel looks up as well, he takes a drag from his cigarette and exhales it into the sky. “You shouldn’t smoke you know, there is a 15% chance that you could get lung cancer,” Nigel looks over to Adam who is still staring at the sky. “And I also don’t like the smell of cigarettes,” and with that Nigel promptly drops his cigarettes and stomps it out with his shoe. 

“Sorry gorgeous,”


	2. Space Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a new science project that been presented in Nigel's and Adam's science class! 
> 
> Adam is excited and Nigel just wants to be around his space boy!
> 
> And Darko is just flat out confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I wanted to add, I will be editing my past chapters.
> 
> I won't be changing the story, don't worry! 
> 
> I will just be correcting the grammar and basic mistakes that I've done! 
> 
> Okay, that's all! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Nigel! Gabi! Get up! We’ve got school!” Darko yelled, kicking one of the bed’s legs promptly waking up the couple. Nigel groans and Gabi nuzzles her head in his hairy chest, searching for more warmth. 

“Don’t wanna,” she whines. Darko rolls his eyes. 

“Too bad,” Darko slammed the door shut, jolting the couple to full awakeness. Nigel slides away from Gabi grumpily, and grabs a shirt off the ground, and puts it on. It’s a turquoise buttoned shirt with a pattern of blue, brown, and orange Dachshund dogs scattered all over it. He hears Gabi giggle from behind him, he turns. 

“What?” his voice comes out grumpy and gravel-like. 

Gabi laughs and points to his shirt, “I’ve always wondered why you bought this,” she crawls over the bed and rests her on Nigel’s shoulder while placing her hand on his chest. “I mean you got it from a thrift shop!” She adds, Nigel shrugs. 

“I just happen to fucking like it, darling,” he stated looking over to Gabi. Gabi hums and places a quick peck on Nigel’s lips before hurrying off to the bathroom. 

Nigel sighs as he sees her leave the room. He gets up from the bed with a grunt and moves to his banged up dresser. 

The apartment the group lived in wasn’t in great condition, but it wasn’t complete shit either. 

When Nigel and Darko first stepped into the place, the place was in scrambles. The living looked like a tornado hit it and the kitchen had a broken sink along with a couple of broken dishes scattered all over the ground. Nigel’s and Gabi’s bathroom originally had a broken mirror along with a fucked up toilet. 

To say the least, the place has been in worse conditions. 

Nigel jerks the middle drawer open and pulls out a pair of black jeans, he leans down and pulls them on. He hums as he zips the zipper for them. He lets out a long and tried yawn and drags his hand over his eyes.

“Guys!” he hears Darko yell from the living room. He groans and smacks his hand to his hip. 

“I’m fucking coming, just hold on!” he screams back. He goes back to the bed and grabs a random pair of shoes from underneath it and hurriedly pulls them on. Before leaving, Nigel quickly takes his cigarette packet along his white lighter from his bedside table and slides them into one of his jeans pockets. 

* * *

Darko inserts his car key into the slot and the truck roars to life. 

Just like their apartment, the truck before needed a bit of fixing as it was in bad shape as well. The tires were deflated and one of the front windows on the left seat- which Nigel was sitting in- still had a small crack in it that allowed some air through.

Nigel leaned against the window and due to his sour mood, Nigel felt the familiar need for a cigarette. He shoves his hand in his jean pocket where he had originally placed them, he also grabs the lighter. He grasps the box with his other hand and pulls one cigarette out and places the box back in his pocket. He then switches to the lighter and flicks the red switch to light it, he places the cigarette in his mouth as Nigel is about to light it. 

He remembers. 

_ And I also don’t like the smell of cigarettes _

And with that Nigel promptly chucks the unlit cigarette out the window, and removes his thumb from the red switch from the lighter, and settles it back in his pocket. 

Hearing Adam’s angelic voice in Nigel’s head boasts his sour mood from sourness to excitement. Excitement to possibly see Adam Raki was unbearable, he almost wanted to yell at Darko to pick up the speed with the truck. 

“So,” Nigel looks over to Darko who is still staring at the road. “Just to be clear,” he adds, Nigel glares at him to get a move on. “Are you gonna beat the shit out of that guy?” Nigel squinted at him. “Adam...Adam Raki?” Darko reminded him. 

Oh,  _ oh shit.  _

Nigel had completely forgotten that his original objective with finding Adam was to fight him.  _ God _ , if present Nigel could fucking punch past Nigel for even thinking that, he’d do it in a heartbeat. He shakes his head. 

“Ah, no.” He leans his head back on the cracked window. 

“Really?” Darko huffs out a laugh, “Does Adam Raki not deserve The Great Nigel Ibansecu’s fists?” Nigel could feel his stomach twist at the thought. The thought of Nigel causing sort of distress to Adam is torture to him. 

Nigel wasn’t sure why, but when he placed his eyes on the boy. He instantly wanted to give the raccoon boy everything and more. Hell, he didn’t even feel that way when he first met  _ Gabi _ .

_ What? _

No, no, Nigel must’ve remembered it wrong. He  _ definitely _ felt that way when he met Gabi right?

_ Right? _

“We’re here,” Darko announces, popping open his side of the truck’s door. But before doing that he adds something, “Oh, and go to Mr.Keyes office to get your schedules.” Nigel blinks a couple of times before registering that they were in fact at the high school. Nigel does the same and steps out of the truck. He sighs and-

“Bye baby,” Nigel nearly jolts but manages to hide it as Gabi wraps her arms around his torso from the back, she then speeds walks to the front doors of the school. 

Nigel stares in amazement as he watches Gabi practically run towards the school.

He had  _ forgotten _ Gabi was even in the truck. 

Fuck, if Nigel didn’t need a cigarette before, he definitely wanted one now. 

Nigel sighs and pushes himself to walk to the school as well. 

Darko hums as he watches Nigel practically drag himself to the school. He slams the truck door shut and heads the same way. 

* * *

Nigel sighs as he steps out of the boy’s locker room, his muscles were slightly sore and his fingers hurt. Though luckily for him, not smoking a cigarette paid off as in his Physical Education class he got to play dodgeball. Which meant throwing a big red rubber ball at people’s heads. It wasn't a huge surprise when Nigel’s team won. 

He looks down at his schedule and sees that he has science next. He groans and begins his search for ‘201’. 

Nigel wouldn’t admit it, but he has been feeling slightly down from not seeing Adam yet. 

After Adam had told him he went to the same school, Nigel had been looking forward to seeing the blue-eyed angel once again. Though he wasn’t sure what he’d exactly do when he saw him. 

Nigel could tell that Adam wasn’t the type to just start waving his hand widely at the sight of Nigel. Which Nigel appreciated, he never liked people like that. 

“Nigel,” Nigel smirks as sees Darko leaning against one of the many lockers in the hallway, he was next to the class he needed to get to. 

“Darko,” he greeted, leaning next to him as well.

“So,” Darko starts, looking over to Nigel with a playful grin. “How many cigarettes have you burned through?” he jokes. Nigel laughs and shakes his head.

“Surprisingly none,” though Nigel knew the reason why. Didn’t mean he didn’t still felt that desire when someone pissed him off. 

“Bullshit! Really?” Darko howled. He couldn’t imagine it, Nigel would usually be through at least through four already. Nigel nods his head,  _ God  _ he hopes Adam is in his next class. “Wanna head in?” Darko asks, nudging his shoulder towards the door. Wholly expecting Nigel to say ‘fuck you!’ and walk off with a smile. 

Instead, he gets this,

“Sure,” Nigel shrugs, pushing himself off the lockets and heading toward the classroom. Darko looks at him in shock, Nigel attending his third class? There is unmistakably something wrong with him. 

But before Darko could even ask the question, Nigel was already stepping into the classroom. Which made Darko only more suspicious of his best friend. 

As soon as Nigel took his first step into the classroom, his eyes immediately started searching the classroom and-

_ Holy fuck.  _

_ Holy Jesus.  _

And there he was, Adam Raki in the left corner of the room. Peacefully looking out the window that did an amazing job of lighting him as Nigel could see all the amazing features he couldn’t see in the night light. It all weirdly played out in slow motion as well. 

He’s probably just withdrawing. 

But unfortunately for Nigel, he could only look at Adam for a couple of seconds as he had to be introduced to the classroom. Along with Darko, who seemed to be the only person noticing that Nigel nearly drooled when he looked over to the corner of the room. It was just some brown-haired boy gazing out the window. 

“Ah, you must be Nigel Ibansu and Darko yes?” the woman looked to be in her 50’s and seemed to despise everything and everyone. Boy was Nigel going to have fun pushing her buttons. 

Adam’s ears perked at the mention of Nigel’s name and turns his head to see Nigel was indeed at the front of the classroom, along with another student Adam didn’t know of along with side Mrs. Buchwald. His eyes peered down to his shirt, he let out a small bashful smile as he saw the pattern of Dachshund dogs even if he never liked dogs. 

Too loud for his taste. 

He still felt happy to see Nigel again, he wondered if he could tell Nigel about the solar system and the stars. Perhaps more on why raccoons are so wonderful, he seemed to like that according to last night. 

As the teacher was introducing Nigel and Darko to the class, Nigel scanned his eyes over to Adam only to be connected with him. Nigel could see Adam give a small nod as he dipped his head back into the book he was reading, Nigel’s eyes peered down at the book Adam was holding,  _ Space Encyclopedia _ . Now of course since it was a science class the encyclopedia could be handed out already and Adam- being the smart boy that he is- has already gone ahead. 

But as Nigel looked around the room, no one else had the book, only Adam. Nigel’s lips twitch to a grin for a second, smart boy. 

“There are two empty seats in the back, one in front of Adam and one next to him,” the woman, who said her name was Mrs. Buchwald, points to the desk in front of Adam and beside him. And Nigel couldn’t be happier. 

Nigel gives Mrs. Buchwald a simple nod as he walks over to the desk beside Adam. As he sits down he sees Adam looking over to him and giving him a small wave, Nigel smiles back. 

  
  


What  _ the fuck. _

What  _ the actual fuck? _

Is all Darko could think as he sees Nigel  _ smiling  _ at the boy in the corner, did he know this boy? 

_ one in front of Adam and one next to him, _

_ No _ , there's no way it could be Adam Raki right? 

Not with the way Nigel is smiling at him, it was the smile he only gave to Gabi. The smile when his head is too full of his love for her and doesn’t know what else to do with it, so he just smiles like a dumbass towards her. It was the exact one he’s giving to this boy.

Darko is  _ definitely _ talking with Nigel once they’re home.    


“Starting this month off, we are going to be having a science project-” the classroom is filled with quiet groans, but Nigel looks over and sees Adam practically buzzing with excitement. He grins, “But you get to be in groups,” she adds. And the class stops groaning immediately with the addition, “Now, get in groups of three or four,” she orders. Everyone in their seats gets up and starts moving around the room, Nigel looks over wondering if Adam would be willing to team up. 

Adam raises his hand “Yes, you can work by yourself Adam,” oh, well that answered his question. 

_ Dammit.  _

“Hey, do you wanna join my buddy’s group?” Nigel turns to see another brown-haired boy leaning over him, his happy smile the fakest Nigel has ever seen. It was the kind of smile that looked too forced, too wide for it to be natural. Before Nigel could tell the kid to fuck off, Darko steps in.

“We’d love to,” Darko places a hand on Nigel’s back. 

Oh... _ oh. _

They need to talk. 

_ Fuck, _ they needed to talk. 

As Nigel was being dragged over to the other fuckers’ table, he started to wonder. 

_ Shit. _ Was he too fucking obvious with Adam? Wait, but then why the fuck would Darko care? If anything Darko would congratulate Nigel for “letting down his bad boy walls.” 

Whatever the fuck that meant. 

“Thank god I got you away from that weirdo, or else he probably would’ve scratched your eye out!” The asshole and his other teams of assholes burst into laughter. Except for Nigel and Darko who just stared at them, Darko’s was absolute boredom, and Nigel’s was hatred. 

How fucking  _ dare they  _ even speak about Adam that way? Weirdo to Adam? Nigel couldn’t see the correlation. Now, brilliant and beautiful to Adam. It was as simple as connecting two dots. 

“Yeah, I heard he scratched Mr.Keyes,” Darko continued in which Nigel without moving his head, looked over to Darko with a warning glare. Though Nigel had a feeling Darko’s reasons for continuing this conversation wasn’t to hurt Adam. 

Another asshole from the group barked with laughter, “Oh you shoulda seen it! Adam was having one of his crazy meltdowns-” Nigel suppressed a growl, “-he was like pulling his hair, throwing shit everywhere, I’m honestly surprised he didn’t manage to give Mr. Keyes a fuckin concussion!” Nigel’s hand which was hidden under the table flexes into a fist. He felt the sudden urge to break all assholes’ noses but couldn’t as he was in the classroom with Mrs.Buchwald’s watchful eye. 

Well, it was more like because Adam is in the same room. Nigel wouldn’t want to scare the boy.

“What caused it?” Darko pushed, his eyes glancing over to Nigel’s angry ones. He grinned at him. 

Another dickhead spoke up, “Oh, Mrs.Buchwald asked Adam a question, and apparently, Rainman couldn’t handle it so he completely broke down. I shoulda recorded it,” Nigel’s jaw ticks. “Honestly, I have no idea why Beth even hangs out with the freak, it’s probably because of his ass burgers,” he adds. 

The group giggles. 

Nigel’s fist is now aggressively gripping his jeans and his teeth are clenched and gritting against each other. Nigel needs to leave, he needs to calm down, or else he’s gonna end with his hands wrapped around these dick’s throats and choke them to death. 

Thankfully, Darko seemed to notice Nigel’s rage and quickly switched the topic back to the project they were originally supposed to be doing. Giving Nigel the time to slowly calm down and consider what time after school he could release his anger on these assholes. 

_ It’s probably because of his ass burgers, _

Nigel silently groaned at the insult, he had heard of Aspergers. Though he didn’t know shit, all he knew was Aspergers is a part of the autism spectrum. 

And Nigel figured Adam would be on the spectrum. With the way that Adam couldn’t seem to keep eye contact with Nigel, along with the number of details he knew about raccoons. It wasn’t a huge surprise. 

He’ll have to look it up later, find out ways to not upset Adam. 

“So what exactly are we doing?” he forces out, eyes contact could be like daggers to the others but they don’t seem to notice. 

“Some space shit, oh! That reminds me-” Nigel rage rumbles in his stomach, “-That retard always spouts about space! Planets, rocks, lame shit ya know?” the asshole gestures towards Nigel to agree. Nigel remains still. He could feel his fucking brain getting smaller and brain cells begin to decrease as he continues to stick around with these dumbasses. Besides Darko of course. 

But at least he got something out of it. 

Raccoon boy also likes space, huh?

Smart boy with smart interests. 

As he sees the other group drop the topic completely and go back to talking to each other, Nigel looks over. 

Adam was still reading his space book but his eyes were different. They weren’t filled with happiness and wonder. They were depressed and dull.

“Fuck,” he whispers. 

He must’ve heard. 

The instinct to punch everybody-expect for Adam of course. Oh, and Darko- grew. 

“Quiet down, quiet down,” Mrs. Buchwald yelled over the rowdy students talking to each other, Adam looked up from his book. Mrs. Buchwald sighs angrily, “Quiet!” The entire classroom falls silent, Adam suppresses a whine in his throat and covers his ears. He didn’t like when it Mrs. Buchwald yells, it makes his chest burn with anxiety. He slowly moves his hands down from his ears as he sees Mrs. Buchwald takes a deep breath. “With your groups, you will be doing a sort of art project but with space,” she whips over to Nigel’s group. “Everyone.” She glares over to Nigel, he doesn’t flinch. “Will be asked to participate, am I understood?” The classroom murmurs with an agreement, Adam nods, his eyes focused on his book. “Adam, am I understood?” she repeats, looking over to Adam. Adam flinches.

“Y...Yes, Mrs. Buchwald,” he forces his eyes to look at her. As soon as moves her glare from him he darts his eyes back to his book. 

“Good, now that we got that out of the way.” She moves to her desk and sits down, “This project will be worth 100 points. This will be very useful for some of you, considering some of your grades are F’s.” 

Nigel rolls his eyes, condensing asshole. 

“Work hard and try, you’ll get an A easily. Slack off and pay someone else to do your work, both of you get F’s.” Nigel glanced over to his group. Besides Darko, Nigel had a feeling these were the types of guys that would pay people to do their homework. 

_ God,  _ why couldn’t he be with Adam instead? He’d love to hear Adam’s wonderful idea for his space project. God, why couldn’t he just be in Adam’s wonderful presence again? He’d be able to hear more raccoons and planets. Even if he never gave two shits about them before, Adam made it seem like it was the most important thing Nigel needed to be informed of. Plus, being with Adam would mean his stress levels wouldn’t burst through the roof. 

Maybe during lunchtime, Nigel could spend some time with Adam. Maybe he’d get to ask Adam to be partners.  _ Fuck  _ he hopes he could be partners with Adam. 

* * *

_ Loud. _

Everything is too  _ loud. _

Students were talking over each other, yelling,  _ screaming.  _ Some were even throwing food at one another and laughing about it. 

Adam didn’t understand why people would even do that. It is disgusting and you could get lots of germs and possible diseases from it. He truly didn’t understand. 

Adam covers his ears with his hands, even if the loud sounds were slightly muffled; it was still overwhelming for him. He looks down at his recently reheated mac and cheese his father made him before sending him off to school. He hadn’t taken a bite due to the noise and he didn’t want it to go cold. It’ll ruin his routine. 

Adam silently groans at the thought, he  _ hates  _ it when his routine gets messed up. 

The bathroom!

Adam could go to the bathroom!

Sure, Adam knew the bathroom in the school wasn't the most sanitary of places to eat. But Adam knew the bathroom would be quiet and a wonderful place to calm down. 

Before this, Adam had counted the number of students who exited the lunchroom. Only around one to two groups did, most students used the restroom during class time. So he knew he’d be alone.

Adam slowly removed his hands from his ears, he winced at the loudness of the lunchroom. He grabs his container of mac and cheese and gets up. 

“Oh, Adam! Where are you going…” the short-haired brunette question trailed off as she looks at Adam’s lunch, “with your mac and cheese?” She tilts her head. Adam looked up to the ceiling, his fingers were nervously tapping against the clear container. 

“I’m going to eat lunch in a bathroom stall,” he answers quickly. He needed to eat lunch before the bell rings, indicating that it would be time to go back to class, then he’d have to wait until dinner to eat and by then his schedule would be all messed up. 

The tapping on his container increased. 

“Why?”

“Lunchroom is too loud,”

“Really? I don’t think it’s that loud,” Adam’s foot started tapping and a burning sensation started building in his chest. 

“Either way, you should stay and later on me and the girls are going to go to the mall and...Adam!”

Adam had turned around and was talking away from her. Adam makes a mental note to tell Beth why he left suddenly. His father taught Adam that walking away from people while they're talking is rude. Adam groaned again. 

  
  


As soon as Adam sees the boy’s restroom, he dashes to it. 

He opens a random stall and closes it. He then sits down on the toilet.

He sighs happily. 

Silence, complete and utter silence. 

He places a hand on his chest and breathes carefully, the burning goes away along with the tapping in his foot and fingers. He smiles shyly as he looks down at his mac and cheese. Adam then realizes he doesn’t have a fork to eat his mac and cheese. 

“Ah,” he gets up from the toilet and exits the bathroom stall. 

In and out, Adam tells himself, in and out. 

But before Adam could exit the restroom, the door opened for him. 

“Nigel?” he tilts his head to the taller boy. 

“Hello gorgeous, could I be your partner for the space project?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment how ya felt! 
> 
> Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!


	3. Rain Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nigel and Adam spend more time together, while Darko becomes more suspicious of the two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say I had to watch Rain Man in order to get the differences between Raymond and Adam. And I must say the movie is really fantastic! I suggest it to anyone who hasn't watched it yet! Raymond is my favorite!

“You want to be my partner?” Adam blinks a couple of times. Nigel nods. 

Whenever anyone else wanted to be partners with him for a project, it was usually because they thought he was like Rain Man. 

Rain Man. 

Made in 1988, by director Barry Levinson. The movie won nominations and awards such as Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Academy Award for Best Music. 

Adam knew which character people were referring to when they called him Rain Man. Raymond Babbitt, who was played by famous actor Dustin Hoffman. 

But he didn’t understand. 

He and Raymond weren’t anything alike, other than the fact they both are on the spectrum. 

Adam has  _ Aspergers, _ while Raymond is a  _ high functioning autistic  _ man. 

Adam also knew that he is indeed on the spectrum, Raymond didn’t think that. 

  
Plus, the age difference. 

Adam also didn’t have a billionaire father who is dead and had given him three million dollars, along with a brother named Charlie. 

They are completely different. 

“But I’m not Raymond,” 

Nigel pauses and squints at Adam. 

“What?” he blurts out. 

Adam tilts his head, had Nigel not heard him?

“But I’m not Raymond,” he says louder. 

Nigel shakes his head, “No, no, darling. I know that, I'm confused-like, why are you saying that?” he explains. Adam blinks again.

“Well, when people ask me to be their partner for a project, it’s because they assume I’m like Raymond,”

Nigel takes a minute and stares at Adam a bit longer, it then clicks. 

“Oh, you mean Rain Man.” He then shakes his head vehemently. “You’ve got me wrong gorgeous,” he huffs out a laugh. “I want to be your partner cause I fucking like ya,” he corrects. 

Adam tilts his head back.

“You like me?”

“Hell yeah,”

Such a simple answer baffled Adam. 

Adam, throughout his 17 years of living, hasn’t been told by other students that they liked him. Other than Beth, but it was for romantic purposes. 

And it didn’t work out as he is a homosexual. 

The only person who has said anything remotely like ‘I like you’ is his father telling him he loves him at 7:15 before he enters the school. 

“Why?” 

Now Nigel is puzzled. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” 

The tapping resumed against his container of mac and cheese. 

Adam knows he’s not very well-liked amongst others. He’s been told to quit talking about space, quit talking about raccoons, quit looking at them like that, why is he acting weird? Or, as he talks, people give him weird looks which makes him stop or not. He can’t tell sometimes. 

Adam has heard these questions often, he had even heard some of them come from Beth. 

But he’s never had someone encourage him to continue his rambling. 

Then again he’s never met someone like Nigel. 

He likes him. 

Adam likes the way Nigel makes him feel. He feels listened to, cared for. 

“I don’t know,” he mutters, his eyes dropping to Nigel’s shoes. They were black sneakers, they were worn down and had some scratches on it. 

“Well, I know why,” Nigel leans his head down to attempt to make eye contact with Adam. Adam glances up and blushes, he swiftly looks back down. Nigel smiles, “So could I be your fucking partner Adam?” 

Besides the use of the word ‘fucking’, which he thought Nigel was threatening him for a second. But the tone of his voice told him the opposite as it was light and playful. He decided it’s not a threat. 

Adam nods, his stares remaining on Nigel’s sneakers, “Yes, you may be my partner.”

Nigel smiles. 

“Fucking fantastic, darling,”

* * *

_ Darling. _

_ Gorgeous. _

It was all Adam could ponder about after lunchtime. 

_ “Hello gorgeous, could I be your partner for the space project?” _

The nicknames made Adam’s stomach feel funny. 

_ “No, no, darling.”  _

But it made him feel good.

_ Really good.  _

It was immensely better than what Beth’s friends call him. 

_ “Hey look, it’s Beth’s weird retard friend!” _

That was Mike, Beth’s boyfriend, he was one of the people Nigel was talking to during science class. 

Mike was the one who called Adam lots of nicknames. 

The kind of nicknames that made Adam feel dumb. 

Adam  _ hates  _ feeling dumb or being called it. 

It made him want to pull out his hair and slam hands against his forehead. 

It made him want to scream and hide in a corner for the rest of his life. 

He groaned quietly, he began whispering to himself. 

“Venus and Mercury are the only two planets that don’t have moons,” he rocks back and forth. 

“The solar system is 4.57 billion years old,” his hands rub against each other. 

“79 known moons are orbiting Jupiter,” he breathes deeply through his nose. 

“A season on Uranus is equivalent to 21 Earth years,” and out the mouth. 

Adam continues whispering facts to himself as he feels himself slowly begin to calm. He needs to get his stress levels down so he and Nigel can spend time at his house to discuss the science project at 5:00 pm. 

Thankfully for him, the thought of seeing Nigel again lifts Adam’s mood and completely calms him. 

After Nigel had asked Adam to be his partner, Nigel asked where they wanted to discuss the project. 

At first, Nigel suggested they could talk about it at the park but Adam disagreed as it wasn’t a part of his routine to enter the park at night on Fridays. He only went to the park during dark on Thursday and Sunday, it was strictly for pictures of raccoons or stargazing. 

Perhaps he’d be able to get Nigel to come with him! 

Adam smiles even more. 

“It’s three you may leave,” the teacher announces. 

And with that the entire classroom got into a hurried bustle to get out of the classroom, Adam included as he wanted to get to home and organize his bedroom, not that it wasn’t, but it didn’t mean Adam couldn’t clean it up even more. 

After all, he wanted to impress Nigel the best he could. 

* * *

Darko was getting frustrated. 

Like concerningly frustrated. 

And it was formed by Nigel. His dear friend Nigel. Nigel Ibanscu, whom he has known since kindergarten. Is causing him all of this frustration. 

It started with Nigel nearly drooling at the sight of that boy he said he was going to fight, and now Nigel is constantly looking at the time and wandering around the apartment aimlessly. He kept walking in and out of the bathroom, nervously brushing his fingers through his hair, even sniffing himself from time to time. 

And the weirdest part was, it didn’t seem to be drug deal jitters. 

It seemed to be date jitters. 

Darko knew this as when Nigel and Gabi first started dating, Nigel was all over the place. Constantly asking Darko if he looked okay, asking him what time it was, sometimes even asking him if he smelt good! 

It was a very weird time, Darko didn’t think he’d get to see it again. 

“Are you going on a date with Gabi, man?” Darko asks, his eyes following Nigel walking back and forth in the living room. Nigel shakes his head. 

“Nah, just a friend,” he mutters, eyes looking over to the clock once again. 

_ A friend?! _

Whoever this friend was, certainly had Nigel’s dick wrapped around their finger. 

“Can I take the truck?” 

Darko pauses and looks at Nigel, who is now standing still. 

“Take the truck? Ready to leave the nest-”

“Yes or no, dipshit,” Nigel demanded. 

Darko rolls his eyes, “Sure, I’m not going anywhere.”

Nigel sighs in relief and nods. “Thank fucking God,” he then walks over to the kitchen. Darko turns his body and leans over the back of the couch to look at what Nigel is doing. Nigel was scrambling through the kitchen, “Where are the fucking keys?” he groans, slamming and shutting many drawers and cabinets. 

“On top of the fridge- man, are you sure you’re not going on a date with Gabi for somethin?” he asks again. Nigel beelines to the fridge and grabs the keys. 

“No dipshit, just a friend,” Nigel’s answer sounded like he was trying to convenience himself more than convince Darko. 

“Just a friend?” Darko reiterates, his eyebrow perking up. 

Nigel gives Darko a firm glare, Darko ignores it. 

“When will you be back?”

“Seven or eight at the latest,” Darko smirks. 

“Why? Gabi got somewhere else to be?” he teases.

“No, he-” Nigel, who is about to leave, stops as he realizes what he’s said. 

Darko’s grin widens and his mouth opens to laugh. 

Nigel turns swiftly and points his finger to him, “Shut it,” he takes another step forward. “I don’t want to hear it,” he hisses. Darko clasps his hand over his mouth, he could feel tears brimming in his eyes. 

He definitely wasn’t letting this one go. 

Nigel looks at the clock again.

4:35,  _ shit! _

He looks back to Darko, “Fuck off,” is all he can muster as he leaves the apartment with the car keys firmly in his hand. 

He ignores the sound of Darko’s laughter echoing throughout the hallway. 

He rubs his fingers against the metal as he travels down the stairs. 

_ Just think of Adam, just think of Adam, just think of Adam… _

The words work like a charm as Nigel begins to look forward to seeing Adam’s ocean eyes again. 

He’d get to drown in Adam’s beautifulness and knowledge again. 

He’d get to be near Adam again. 

“Thank fuck,” Nigel whispers as he enters the truck.

* * *

Whilst Nigel was nearly causing accidents to get to Adam’s house on time. 

Adam was busy with analyzing his room for dust. Even if he’s been doing it for the past hour and is sure he’s checked every nook and cranny. 

He didn’t want Nigel to think he is a messy person. 

On his bed, he had all of his space books sprawled on his bed, all in a neat line. 

All for him and  _ Nigel _ ... __

Adam blushes at the thought of Nigel sitting on his bed. 

Nigel and his sandy hair with hints of ash. 

Nigel and his amber eyes looking down at Adam.

Nigel and his smell of honey with hints of cigarettes. 

Nigel  Ibanescu sitting beside Adam Raki. 

Adam proceeds to stare at his bed as he holds the wet rag in his hands. 

Despite his reddening blush, Adam knew they wouldn’t be engaging in any sexual or romantic activities. 

He wasn’t even sure if Nigel was homosexual or not. Though a part of him hoped so. 

Adam turns as he hears the doorbell ring, he looks over to his clock. 

It’s 5:00 am.

Adam calmly walks out of his room but makes a quick stop to drop the wet rag in his laundry basket. His hands nervously rub against each other, he stops at the door. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was waiting, as he was the one who had to unlock the door to let Nigel in. He places his hand on the doorknob, mumbles another space fact about the moon to himself, and unlocks the door. 

“Hello, Nigel,” 

“Hello gorgeous,” Nigel purrs. 

* * *

Nigel smirks as he sees the familiar light pink blush appear over Adam’s pale cheeks. “May I come in?” He asks, darting his head down to attempt to drown in Adam’s ocean-like eyes. 

Adam nods, “Yes you may,” he steps aside and allows Nigel to pass.

As Nigel steps in, Adam is reminded of something as Nigel looks around the house. 

_ “If you're inviting a guest to the house, Adam, be sure to give them a tour if they want one.” _

Adam’s father told him that. He said it was polite and helpful so people wouldn’t have to ask Adam where the bathroom is. 

“Would you like a tour, Nigel?” Adam asks as he watches Nigel’s eyes scan the ceiling and the living room. He assumed Nigel was at least interested in one. Nigel looks away from the living room and to Adam. He gives Adam a warm smile. 

“I’d love that gorgeous,” 

It was an average house overall, typical living room, typical bathroom, typical kitchen, typical everything. 

But Adam’s bedroom  _ screamed  _ wonder and space. 

Adam’s ceiling is painted with mixtures of the night sky with stars scattered all over it. Adam’s bedsheets were galaxy and resting against Adam’s black pillows was a medium-sized raccoon plushie, along with a line of books neatly lined with one another. Nigel walks over to his bookshelf, and of course, it is filled to the brim with space books. The wallpaper contained rocket ships and planets; Venus, Mars, Uranus-Nigel snorted- and many other planets as well. 

“Why did you laugh?” Though Adam’s voice was monotone, Nigel could tell Adam was hurt by his action. 

“Oh, darling, I was just thinking of somethin funny that's all. Didn’t have anything to do with you, I assure you.” Adam nods. 

Adam then motions his hand to his bed as he walks over to it, Nigel sits beside him. 

There is a silence between them, Nigel finishes observing the room and looks to Adam’s baby blue eyes who are looking directly at his chestnut eyes. Nigel licks his lips, 

“So, what do you want to-”

“Are you a homosexual Nigel?” The question blurts from Adam’s lips, his eyes then dart down to his lap. For a second Nigel considers asking Adam why the fuck he would think that and gets ready for a fight. Then he took another second to look at Adam. 

Adam’s eyes weren’t filled with ridicule or meanness, he looked genuinely curious. Along with the way he asked the question, it was the same flat voice he used sometimes. Plus Adam isn’t the type of guy to joke around about this stuff, or anything really. Realizing this, Nigel relaxes. 

“No, I’m not, may I ask why?” Nigel slightly leans his head down to Adam. 

Adam claps his hands together and starts to massage them together. “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he adds, his eyes now facing his bedroom door. “Most people get offended when I ask them the question,” Adam moves his hands from each other and relocates one hand and moves it to his thigh, his fingers start tapping. Nigel notices. 

“I’m not offended darling, I’m just curious why you’d think that,” he assures. He’s attempted to touch Adam’s shoulder but he’s reminded by his research. Some people with Aspergers don’t like getting touched without permission. He places his hand next to Adam's hand which is still tapping against his thigh, not touching, just right next to his. Adam’s shoulders curl, 

“Can you promise not to yell or scream at me?” Again his voice is monotone but Nigel could tell Adam is scared by the increased tapping on his thigh. “I don’t like loud noises,” Nigel could feel his rage and sadness mix together as it brewed in his stomach, he’ll have to ask for names later. 

“I won’t yell at you darling, I never will,” Adam finally looks over to Nigel, there were tears at the brim of his eyes. Nigel again has the urge to wipe them away but doesn’t as he didn’t want to upset Adam any further. 

“If your not homosexual,” he starts, though the tapping is continuing, Nigel could tell it was slower. “Then why do you call me those names then?” 

Nigel takes a moment. 

Then he takes another moment. 

“I’m sorry gorgeous, what exactly do you mean?”

“That,” Adam jerks his other hand over to Nigel, “What you called me right now,” 

What the hell does Adam mean-

Oh.

_ Oh, _

“Those are terms of endearment Nigel, names you call someone who you love or at least attracted to,” 

_ Someone who you love or at least attracted to _

“Dar-” Nigel takes a deep breath, “Adam,” Adam tilts his head. 

_ God have fucking mercy on him.  _

“I...I’m not gay, I just…” he sighs and licks his lips. “I know some guys freak out when other guys call them hot or whatever,” God, could feel his hands starting to fucking sweat. “I’m not one of those fucking guys alright, I...I call you gorgeous because I think you’re gorgeous, that’s all.” Adam purses his lips and looks to the ceiling, Nigel looks up as well. 

“I suppose that makes sense,” Adam states. “Do you like homosexuals? As in you don’t mind they have same-sex attraction?” Nigel looks over to Adam who is still gazing at his ceiling. He looks calm, at peace with everything. 

“I don’t care about people’s sex lives if that helps you,” he answers. Adam nods. 

“That’s good,” Adam mumbles, he drops his eyes to his hands. But Nigel could see Adam flickering his eyes towards him from time to time. 

Nigel smiles, “I don’t mind if your gay Adam. You know that right?” Nigel moves his hand to Adam’s shoulder, not touching, just ghosting over his shoulder.

“I know, it’s something else.” Nigel perks an eyebrow.

“What is it darling-”

“I have Aspergers Syndrome,” he looks at Nigel, fully expecting Nigel to start laughing at him or make an excuse to leave. But no. Nigel’s eyes weren’t filled with uncomfortableness or menace. They were full of understanding and comfort, something Adam doesn’t see a lot. 

“I know that darling,” Adam purses his lips and nods. “And it doesn’t bother me, you're still the same Adam Raki I met.” Nigel shakily places his hand on Adam’s shoulder, fully ready to remove it in case Adam freaks out. “The same boy I met who took pictures of raccoons at fucking 9 pm,” he chuckles. 

“I will be 18 in a month,” Adam replies. 

“Oh shit, really? What are you gonna do?” Nigel grins widely at the soon-to-be birthday boy. 

“What I’ve always done, go to the park and stargaze,” Adam looks up. Nigel smiles warmly.

“Alright then stargazer, would mind if I joined? You can teach me about every star in the sky,” Adam’s eyes light up with excitement and wonder. He jumps up from his bed.

“I...I can do that! I teach about the solar system, the moon, the stars, e...everything!” 

Nigel smiles even harder, “I’d love that darling, what day will it be?” Adam walks over to his calendar which is of course space-themed. 

Adam flips the page and points his finger to a certain box, “November 16, 2020,” he states, Nigel nods, knowing that other than drawing from time to time and drug dealing, which is a whole other topic he’ll have to discuss with Adam, Nigel didn’t do much. 

“I’ll be there gorgeous,” he assures. Adam smiles and walks back to Nigel and sits down. 

“Splendid, we should start on our project, shouldn't we?” Adam looks over to his line of space books on his bed. Nigel nods. 

“Let’s get started stargazer.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment how ya felt!
> 
> Have a good day and thanks for reading!
> 
> Chapters will be coming out as soon as possible!


	4. Stay Away From Adam Raki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nigel meets Adam's other friend, Beth. 
> 
> Darko gets pissed. 
> 
> And Adam learns more about Nigel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a surprise character in this chapter! 
> 
> I'm not sure if I'm going to make them an important character or not. 
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Nigel, have you informed Mrs. Buchwald about your choice to be my partner instead of your old ones?” Nigel hears as he sits at his desk. He looks over and shakes his head. 

“Ah shit, no I haven't, darling, I’ll do it as soon as I can,” he assures. Adam nods.

So far on their project, they have gotten to the basics of what they’ll do. They would create the planet Jupiter with magazines about space. Adam will do a speech about Jupiter while Nigel will be creating the planet. Nigel was the one who came up with the planet created by bits of magazines. 

“Okay, afterward, we can go to the library and ask Mrs. Bloom for space magazines. I believe she’ll say yes, she’s quite nice to me.” Adam looks over to the door, anticipating Mrs.Buchwald's appearance. 

Nigel grins, “That’s good gorgeous.”

The classroom door swings open to reveal Mrs.Buchwald walking through, with her messenger bag in hand. “Good afternoon, the entire class period will be mainly for the space project.” She rests her bag on top of her desk, “You can get in your groups, remember if you want to change partners talk to me,” she adds. 

Soon after everyone gets to their groups, with Darko looking at Nigel waiting for him to join their group. But is painfully surprised as he sees Nigel head to the teacher with the same boy he gawked at yesterday. 

“No, no,” he mutters under his breath. He swears to God if Nigel is doing what he thinks he’s doing, he swears-

“Buchwald, Adam, and I want to be partners,”

Son of a bitch.

_ Adam huh? _

Mrs. Buchwald looks up from her laptop, surprised to see Adam and the transfer student standing before her. “ _ Mrs. _ Buchwald,” she corrects, Nigel refrains from an eye roll. “And yes you may be partners but,” her eyes are drawn to the other transfer student’s eyes glaring at the blond boy before her. “I think one of your partners isn't in agreement,” Nigel’s face drops. 

_ Fuck,  _ he had forgotten about Darko!

Nigel looks back and sees Darko practically praying to every god to strike Nigel just by glaring at him. “You didn’t inform your friend?” Adam asks, Nigel's jaw ticks. 

“Fuck, it slipped my mind darling,” he whispers. Adam burrows his brows for a moment but catches on to what Nigel means.

“Well, go talk to him,” he pushes. 

Nigel groans at suggestions, “Easier said than done stargazer,” he insists. 

“Why? Aren’t you friends? I’m sure he’ll understand,” Nigel nods awkwardly. He stands there for a moment and weighs his decisions. 

Sure, he could talk to Darko and say he forgot to tell him that he’s partnering up with Adam instead. 

But then he’d probably get a broken nose as soon as class ends.

But if he doesn’t, he won’t be able to be partners with Adam. 

....

He’s endured worse than a bloody nose. 

Nigel sighs and walks towards Darko with Adam following behind him. Well, more like hiding behind him, as they approach Darko and the group. 

“Darko look,” 

“We’ll talk later, and you’ll fucking stay for the conversation.” Darko looks over to the boy hiding behind Nigel, his eyes darting to the boys at the table he was sitting at. “You must be Adam right?” Adam nods and thrust his hand towards Darko, though he was still hiding behind Nigel. 

“Adam Raki, age 17, I go to East South High School and I want to become an astronaut when I am of legal age,” Adam takes Darko’s hand and shakes it. Darko shakes it back. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Adam,” he glances over to Nigel, whose eyes are full of warning and concern.

Adam flips his attention back to Nigel, “Can we head to the library now? I desperately want to see your sketch for our project,” Adam slightly tugs on Nigel’s arm. Nigel glances over to Darko one last time and moves his eyes back to Adam and nods. 

“Yeah, let’s fucking go,” without a second look Nigel leads Adam out of the classroom, before getting stopped by Mrs. Buchwald.

“Excuse me, may I ask where you gentlemen are going?” she asks. Nigel and Adam turn,

"We're going to the library for our project, we need science magazines," Adam answers, his voice monotone as usual. Mrs. Buchwald’s lips twitch to a frown. 

"Don't take that tone with me Raki," she snaps. Adam flinches, his fearful eyes dart to the ground. 

"I… I didn't mean to o...offend," he whispers. He tries to block out the giggles from Mike's table. Nigel refrains from a growl.

Mrs. Buchwald looks Adam up and down then looks back to her laptop. She grabs a small green slip of paper from her drawers and writes something on it. She thrusts it forward, "Be back soon," she orders. 

Adam, too afraid to upset Mrs. Buchwald any further, remains still as Nigel is the one who snatches the slip from Mrs. Buchwald's hand. 

Not wanting to waste another second in being Mrs. Bitchwald's presence, Nigel motions for Adam to follow him. Adam complies.

* * *

  
  


As soon as Adam and Nigel are a good amount away from the classroom, Nigel releases the built-up growl in his throat. "Does she always fucking talk to you like that?" 

Adam looks down at Nigel's shoes. "Mrs. Buchwald? Yes," Nigel stops walking and stares at him. Adam notices and looks up to the ceiling, "It was my fault, " he states. Nigel groans. 

“It wasn’t. And even if it was. She still shouldn’t of fucking talked to you like that,” as much he wanted to scream, he lowers his tone as to not upset Adam any further. Adam shrugs his shoulders, claps his hands together, and starts to massage them together. 

Nigel remains silent as he stares at Adam, patiently waiting. Adam flickers his gaze up to Nigel for a moment then back down to his shoes. “I...I have t...trouble,” he takes a deep breath, “I have trouble with reading emotions,” he describes. His hands were now tugging on the tan sweater he wore, “I’m not good at reading people, I can’t tell if a person is being rude, mean, or sad.” Nigel nods slowly. “I don’t mean to offend people,” he mutters, his feet start tapping the ground. 

Nigel takes a step closer to Adam, so close that his feet were touching Adam’s tapping ones. “Darling, it’s not your fucking fault that you can’t read people,” he whispers. Adam looked down at Nigel’s hands, they were almost touching his but not, like he was waiting for permission to touch them. “You can’t help that,” Adam’s index finger lightly touches the top of Nigel’s hand. 

“I...I need help,” he focused on how rough Nigel’s skin feels under his finger, “B...But people don’t like it when people need h...help,” Nigel intertwined his fingers with Adam’s. The action was shaky and light, ready at any moment to let go in case Adam disliked it. He didn’t, as Nigel sees a shy smile appeared on Adam’s face. 

“I’d be very willing to help you gorgeous,” he assures. Adam’s eyes make contact with Nigel’s, “You can call me, text me, whatever. I'll be there in a heartbeat and tell if the person is being a dick or not.” Adam giggles and Nigel grins, happy to see Adam in a lighter mood. 

“Nigel, people can’t be dicks, it’s physically impossible,” Nigel laughs. 

“You never know darling, you never know,” 

* * *

The library was a bit larger than Nigel would’ve expected. There were tons of bookshelves filled with books, all sectioned off with sections such as ‘Romance’, ‘Horror’, ‘Fantasy’, and so on. At the center of it all were bean bags and multiple chairs to relax and read. Nigel looks over to Adam as he feels a tug on his shirt, "Come, Mrs. Bloom will be at the check-out desk," Adam guides Nigel to the desk. 

The desk is empty except for a computer, a barcode scanner, and a shiny gold service bell.

Without hesitation Adam rings the bell, a couple of seconds pass and he rings it again. And again, and again, and again. "I'm coming, I'm coming- Oh! Adam, hello!" 

From the office behind the check-out desk comes out a woman, looking like she's in her early thirties. She had long dark, wavy brunette hair and wore a tucked-in white buttoned shirt with a bright red tie, her lipstick matched the color. A leather belt wrapped around her waist was accompanied by tight black jeans. Definitely different than any other librarian Nigel has ever seen. 

"Hello Mrs. Bloom, and please keep your voice down," Nigel snorts; finding it funny to see a student having to remind a librarian to be quiet.

Mrs. Bloom nods to Adam, "Apologies," she then looks over to Nigel. "I don't think I've seen you around before, I'm Alana, Alana Bloom," Nigel nods to her.

"Nigel Ibanescu," he grunts. 

Her brows lift, "One of the transfer students from Romanian," she mentions. Adam looks over to Nigel, Adam isn't all that surprised to find that Nigel came from Romanian. His accent told Adam everything. But it dawns on him. 

Though Adam has been transparent with his interests and ambitions towards Nigel. Nigel himself hasn't told Adam anything about himself. He doesn't know what Nigel desires to be as an adult nor what his interests are. He'll have to fix that soon. 

"Mrs. Bloom?" He draws Mrs. Bloom's attention back to him. 

"Yes?"

"Do you have any disposable science magazines?" He asks, "We need some for a science project," he adds. Mrs. Bloom smiles,

"Yes I believe we do," she dips her head down as her hands shuffle through her jean pockets. "Here," she pulls out a gold ring with multiple keys hanging from it and hands it to Adam. "The magazines should be in room 402AB," she informs. Adam nods and takes the key,

"Thank you, Mrs. Bloom," with the keys in hand, Adam leads Nigel to the end of the check-out desk and enters the office. 

As Nigel and Adam enter the office, they are greeted with a hallway with the left and right walls lined with wooden doors, all having gold numbers engraved in them. Nigel and Adam begin to walk down the hallway with the number ‘402AB’ in their minds. 

“Nigel,” Nigel turns his head to Adam, “It has come to my attention that I know close to nothing about you,” Adam’s eyes glance up to Nigel. Nigel lets out a breathy laugh. 

“That’s causes my past isn’t fucking sunshine and rainbows, darling,” he answers. Adam tilts his head and pauses. 

“Sunshine and rainbows?” Nigel stops as well. 

“What I mean is, my past isn’t exactly a fucking great story to tell,” he explains. Adam extends the bottom of his lip out slightly, like a puppy. Nigel grins. 

“I don’t care,” Adam says bluntly. His brows narrow and his arms crossed over his chest. “Nigel you're my only friend, other than Beth,” he adds in a muttered tone. Nigel takes notice. “And since you’re my friend, I want to support you. I  _ will  _ support you.” Adam’s hands start fidgeting along with his feet. 

Nigel on the other hand was internally panicking. The way Adam pronounces his words with such  _ confidence,  _ such  _ determination _ like he was stating it as fact. But Nigel didn’t deserve it, he didn’t even deserve Adam's presence. Adam  _ radiates _ innocence, knowledge, intelligence. What the hell did Nigel radiate?

Cigarettes and beer that’s what. 

“Darling,” he huffs out, not knowing what else to say. “You don’t have to do that,” Adam looks over to the many doors down the hallway. 

“Well, I want to,” is all he says as he continues down the hallway. Nigel remains still as Adam looks in awe. Eventually, his brain catches up and Nigel jogs to join Adam’s side. 

“Darling, I found it,” Nigel announces, Adam turns his head from the door he was looking at. Keys in hand, Adam unlocks the door and enters a moderately small room with a light bulb hanging from the ceiling with a string to switch it on. With Nigel following behind Adam, he extends his arm to grab the strings and pulls the light on. The light reveals rows of filing cabinets on each side of the wall, all the tags named different titles for the genre of the magazine it contains. 

“Here are science magazines,” Adam points to the last cabinet that’s far away from the door. He walks towards it and opens it, Nigel follows suit but leans against the cabinets while watching Adam’s hands searching through the magazines. “I know you don't want to reveal your past to me but,” Adam pauses as he takes a glance at a magazine then hands it to Nigel. Nigel takes the magazine with uncertainty, fearing Adam’s next words. “Could I ask you about your neck tattoo?” Adam looked away from the cabinet drawer and to the right side of Nigel’s neck, the tattoo was of a woman wearing black lingerie with black high heel boots; the tattoo also looked in good condition. 

Nigel instinctively rubs the side of the neck with his free hand, “When did you get it?” Adam asks, his eyes focusing on Nigel’s hand. Nigel chuckles softly,

“When I was 15,” he answers, he grins as he notices Adam’s pause, assuming it was in surprise.

“Did it hurt?” 

Nigel barks out a laugh, “Yeah, it hurt like a bitch!” Nigel digs his fingers into his neck. 

“Why did you get it?” Adam’s eyes fixate on the tattoo again as Nigel removes his hand from it. 

“I wanted to look fucking cool, not sure why I fucking picked this one though,” he mutters. “Guess it looked good on paper, fucker probably scammed me,” he jokes. Adam however burrows his brows as he continues to stare at the tattoo.

“It looks to be in good condition,” without thinking Adam reaches his hand to Nigel’s tattoo and gently glides his fingers across it. 

Usually, if any other man even remotely comes close to Nigel’s neck, they’d be on the ground with Nigel on top of them nearly breaking their arm. But of course, with Adam, it's a completely different story. Nigel quickly finds that he enjoys the touch, as he has to refrain himself from leaning into the touch. 

“And the artwork looks exceptional as well,” he adds, his finger dragging down the woman’s stomach, Adam could feel Nigel pulse pulsate under it. 

“I don’t fucking know, I guess I wished I picked a different art piece,” Nigel tries to not frown as Adam retracts his hand back to his side. “Might get it removed.”

Adam nods and moves his attention back to the drawer and continues to hand Nigel more magazines for their project. “What about Beth?” Adam pauses as he hands Nigel the tenth magazine to him. “Your friend Beth? You mentioned her,” Adam nods. 

“Elizabeth Buchwald,” Nigel’s jaw ticks. 

_ Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh? _ _   
  
_

“How’d you guys meet?” he adds. 

Deciding 11 magazines are enough for their project, Adam hands the last magazine to Nigel and closes the drawer. “In seventh grade,” he answers. Adam walks to the door to leave, Nigel follows. As they enter the hallway again, Adam locks the door with the key before continuing back to the library. “She was 12, I was 13,” he continues, his eyes stare blankly down the hallway. “There was a letter on my desk, it was Tuesday, November 18, 2014.” Adam’s hands fumble against one another, his eyes look to the white ceiling above them as they walk. 

“Love letter?” Nigel huffs out, his hands buried deep in his jean pockets; the magazine packed tightly in his arms. Adam nods.

“It contained words of love and admiration, yes,” Adam confirms. “But it didn’t work as I am a homosexual,” Nigel nods understandingly. “It also wasn’t a part of my schedule, so I didn’t go to the location she wanted me to,” Nigel barks out a laugh. 

“You didn’t fucking go?!” He could feel tears brimming in his eyes. Adam nods his head. 

“I informed my father of the letter on that day, he told me it was rude of me to not appear.” He licks his lips, “He told me to,” he pauses as he curls his fingers into quotations, “Let her down easy.” “He explained to me, to reject her but in a nice way,” his voice is riddled with confusion as he says this. 

“How’d she fucking react?” Nigel chuckles. 

“I believe she was angry with me after I rejected her,” He moved his eyes back to the hallways before them, he could see the door to the library becoming closer and closer. “But then she did something on Wednesday that confused me,” Nigel’s brow lifts as he continues to stare into Adam’s blue orbs. 

“What the fuck did she do?”

“It was 12: 25 pm, I was eating my reheated mac and cheese, and Beth comes to me seemingly in a happier mood than Tuesday,” he describes. 

“Yeah, what she fucking do?” Nigel eggs on, eager to know if this Beth will be on his shit list or not. 

“She told me she understood why I rejected her,” Nigel rolls his eyes. 

“As she should,” he mutters under his breath. 

“Then she told me if I can’t be her boyfriend I could be her,” Adam pauses as he curled his fingers for quotations again. Nigel waits in anticipation. 

“Gay best friend,” and Nigel’s face drops. 

…

_ Fucking hell. _

He shouldn’t be surprised, he really shouldn’t. This bitch was the daughter of Mrs. Bitchface. God only knows what the fucking father is like. 

He bites down so hard on his tongue, Nigel swears he can taste blood, “That so darling?” He massaged his chin with his hand. 

Adam nods confidently, “It is so,” Nigel hums in response. 

Nigel licks his lips as he thinks about his next words, “Adam, I don’t know if-” 

“Nigel, we need to hurry. Mrs. Buchwald will be upset with us if we’re late.” Adam urges, grabbing Nigel’s free hand then leading them faster to the door. Nigel immediately drops what he was about to say as he seemingly forgot it as soon as Adam’s soft skin touches his rough hand. 

“Yeah, yeah, fucking totally, gorgeous.”

* * *

It was lunchtime. Nigel, Darko, and Gabi are sitting alone at a table eating their shit lunch the school gave them. “Hey baby, how’s class. Skip any of them yet?” Gabi purrs as she rests her head on Nigel’s shoulder. In actuality, Nigel hasn’t skipped any of his classes which surprised him as he thought of it. 

“He was gone for most of science,” Darko glances at Nigel with a grin on his face. Nigel swiftly glares at Darko. 

“Ugh, science is so fucking boring! I mean, who gives a shit about space anyway?” Gabi groans. Nigel feels a knot form in his stomach. 

“I don’t know darling, I’d say science is a lot more fucking interesting than history,” he defends. Sure, Nigel didn’t give two shits about the moon or space in general, but when Adam talked about it. It’s a whole different story. Gabi looks up to Nigel in surprise. 

“Wanna become a scientist babe?” She giggles as she presses a kiss on Nigel’s cheek. Darko huffs out laughs. 

“Would certainly be more fucking legal,” Gabi laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. Nigel smiles warmly at her. But in the corner of his eye, he can see a certain brown-haired boy walking into the cafeteria with a red lid container in his hands. 

_ Adam _

Nigel watches from the corner of his eyes as he sees Adam walk toward a crowded lunch table, awkwardness covering his face. “See something you like, Ni?” Gabi giggles, bringing Nigel’s attention back to her. 

“More like someone,” Darko mutters before stuffing mashed potatoes in his mouth. Nigel gives him a swift glaring, silently thanking God that Gabi didn’t seem to hear Darko’s comment. Before he could snap back. He is stopped by a short-haired brunette walking to their table, with one of the fakest smiles Nigel has yet to see. 

“Excuse me,” her voice is soft but somehow sounds like plastic, “Are you, Nigel…?” Nigel stares at her blankly. 

“Ibanescu?” he answers.

She smiles and nods, “Yes, could I talk to you?” She proceeds to stare at Nigel, expecting an answer from him. Nigel doesn’t give one. “In a private,” she adds, though under her happy tone sounded like a threat. Without hesitation, Gabi steps in, 

“He’s taken bitch,” Gabi snaps. The brunette then looks over to Gabi and shakes her head with a small laugh. 

“So am I. It’ll be only a minute or two, nothing longer.” She assures. And as Gabi is about to get from the table, Nigel stops her. 

“I’ll be right back baby,” he mumbles pressing a kiss on Gabi’s lips. Gabi automatically stops and sits back in her seat as Nigel gets up from his seat. 

* * *

Not even wasting a moment, the brunette’s seemingly nice attitude drops in seconds as she closes the cafeteria doors. “Why the fuck are you hanging out with Adam?”

Without a beat, Nigel answers “You must be Beth.”

She points her finger at him, “I know who you are, I know what you do,” Nigel laughs. 

“Oh yeah? What exactly do I fucking do?” He could anger bubbling his stomach. 

“You're a drug dealer! You're involved in gangs!” She jabs her finger into his chest.

Nigel rolls his eyes, sure some of the rumors spreading around the school are true. Yes, Nigel is a drug dealer and is with a gang. Then there were other rumors that were completely untrue like, there is a rumor that Nigel killed his dad to get his inheritance money. The last time Nigel checked, his dad was very much alive and living in Romania with his new girlfriend. “So?” Nigel asks as he is reminded of his cigarettes on his nightstand. 

“You shouldn’t be around him! You’re bad news!”

Nigel shrugs his shoulders, yeah, he couldn’t really argue with that. But he  _ could  _ argue that if Adam didn’t like him, being as blunt as he is, he would’ve told Nigel to fuck off if he didn’t like him. 

“Well he seems to like having me around, doesn’t that fucking count for something?” 

“Adam doesn’t know what he wants,” she dismisses. “He’s autistic! He doesn’t know-”

“Being fucking autistic doesn’t mean you don’t know what you fucking want,” Nigel barks. He grits his teeth back and forth, he needs to leave. Not even one minute with this asshole and Nigel already wants to scream. 

“You don’t know that!” Beth slightly pushes Nigel away from her. Angering Nigel even more. 

“You don’t fucking know that either, cunt!” His accent is thick and heavy. But it comes out sharp like a knife when spoken. 

“The fuck you call me?!-”

“Nigel?”

* * *

The two stop as they turn their attention to a shaking Adam holding his container of macaroni and cheese. Nigel rushes over to him, his arms go to Adam’s arms, ready to touch him when Adam needs him to. But Beth takes it as an attack as she grabs one of Nigel’s arms. “What are you doing?!” The shout causes Adam to flinch and the grip on his commentator of mac and cheese tightens.

“Loud,” he groans, it catches Nigel’s attention but it doesn't catch Beth’s. 

“Quiet,” he hisses at her. He pulls his arm back. 

Still not touching, Nigel whispers into Adam’s ear, “Hey, hey, Adam, you’re okay, you’re okay,” he soothes. Adam shakes his head violently. 

“Loud,” he repeats, the word coming out as a whimper. 

“Loud? Like the cafeteria?” Nigel asks, his eyes flickering to the cafeteria doors. Adam just groans more in response, but Nigel takes that as a yes. Nigel then proceeds to slowly place his hands on Adam’s arms and starts guiding them away from the bustling cafeteria. Adam clings onto him like a bee on a flower. 

As Adam and Nigel are walking away, Beth catches up with them with plenty more to say. 

“Where are you taking him?” She asks, but the question comes out as another threat. 

_ Zece, nouă, opt,  _ **_(10, 9, 8)_ **

Nigel ignores Beth as he continues to count in his head. 

_ Șapte, șase, cinci  _ **_(7, 6, 5)_ **

“Bathroom,” Adam grunts. Nigel looks down to Adam’s shaking body clinging onto him. He then looks up to see the bathrooms weren’t far from them. 

“Ew! Adam! You don’t tell someone-”

Nigel sends her a deathly glare, telling her if she speaks another word, she’ll have more to deal with than just a glare. Beth backs down. 

* * *

As they reach the bathroom, with Beth behind them. Nigel lets go as Adam seems to visibly calm down, as he sees the shakiness from his body die out. Adam and Nigel both step into the bathroom, before closing Nigel takes another look at Beth. She stood there with her hips popped to the side, arms crossed, with a firm glare. 

_ Stay away from Adam Raki.  _

Nigel snorts, 

_ Watch me.  _

He closed the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I hoped you enjoyed it!
> 
> Comment how ya felt!
> 
> Have a nice day!

**Author's Note:**

> I really hoped you've enjoyed the first chapter! Rest assured, I am working on the next chapter as we speak! 
> 
> Please comment and tell me how you felt! 
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lesbianparasite (My Tumblr)


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